The Portal November 2017 - Page 21

THE
P RTAL
November 2017
Page 21
A Portal Exclusive!
Eastern Catholic Bishops
of Europe
The Annual Meeting of The Eparchy of The Holy Family in
London was attended by Ronald Crane
I
t was my colleague, Fr Mark Woodruff, who alerted me to the fact that this Annual Meeting was to
be held in the UK for the first time. It was a double celebration as it marked sixty years of the Ukrainian
apostolic exarchate in 1957. It achieved the status of Eparchy in 2013. So I made my way to Welwyn Garden
City where I mingled with Eastern Rite bishops, clergy and laity from twelve Eastern Rite Catholic Churches.
The welcome from Myroslava
Matwijiwskyj (or Myrosia for short)
was as warm as can be. Fr Mark had
smoothed the way for me, but even so,
Myrosia was warm and generous in her
welcome. The daughter of the Chancellor
of the Eparchy, she has held the meeting
together with other members of the
Secretariate.
The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the
Holy Family is the Eparchy or bishopric
Myroslava Matwijiwskyj
for Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Great
Britain. It is one of two Eastern Rite
Catholic dioceses in Great Britain, along
with the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy
of Great Britain.
Unlike many other nations outside
Ukraine to which the Ukrainian diaspora
have emigrated, such as Canada and
Australia, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church in Great Britain did not have
Eparchal status until recently.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church has Bishop Hlib Lonchyna
sixteen parishes in England and Scotland.
Myrosia told me that many of their
faithful have Ukrainian backgrounds.
They may come from the Ukraine, or be
second or third generation Ukrainian
as she is herself. A measure of the way
the Eparchy has cemented itself into life
in the UK is shown by the fact that at
their Cathedral in Mayfair in London,
the Litur gy is celebrated in English on at
least one Saturday evening a month.
The fifty or so delegates were welcomed Sister Iryna SSMI
by the Ukrainian Bishop in UK, The
Right Revd Hlib Lonchyna. He, together
with Myrosia and Sister Iryna SSMI
gave us a brief history of the Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church in the UK.
His Excellency Edward Joseph Adams,
the Papal Nuncio in England and Wales,
read a message of encouragement and
blessing from the Holy Father. Bishop
Paul McAleenan, Auxiliary Bishop
of Westminster, represented Vincent,
Cardinal Nichols and welcomed those
present in a spirit of brotherly love.
There were questions to Bishop
Lonchyna about other Eastern Rite
Churches in the UK, Ecumenical
relations with Anglicans, Ukrainian
Orthodox Christians in UK, other
Eastern Churches in UK, and, I was
pleased to hear, the Ordinariate.
The Conference met over four days at
the end of October and included Bishops
from Eastern Rite Catholic Churches in
Europe.
Discussions covered topics such
as Kerygma and the difficulties of
proclaiming the Catholic Faith in a
secular society that understands little
about religion, let alone Catholic
Christianity. Delegates were concerned
that many of their faithful were being
lured away by other churches in the
UK, Baptism, Confirmation and First
Communion often being given to ex-
patriot Eastern Rite Catholics and